JUDGMENT

11.19.13

Methodist Pastor Found Guilty

Lori Waselchuk/The Washington Post, via Getty

A jury of Methodist pastors found a fellow minister guilty on Monday of violating the faith after he officiated at his gay son’s wedding. On Tuesday morning, the panel will decide Rev. Frank Schaefer’s penalty, which could range from a short suspension to a full defrocking. Schaefer, who oversees the United Methodist Church in Lebanon, Pa., officiated at the 2006 same-sex wedding of his son Tim, who had previously contemplated suicide. Three of the pastor’s four children are gay. Schaefer was the first of five Methodist ministers to be accused by church officials of violating the church doctrine on same-sex marriage.